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keirin

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  1. For my Kindergartener in the new year: -We have finally started doing Handwriting in a more structured and consistent way. My daughter really hated handwriting when we started Kindergarten this year and so I backed off on the curriculum I had used with her siblings (Printing with Letter Stories IEW) and instead did more with our Handwriting without Tears chalkboard, drawing in shaving cream, rolling out play dough, etc. I think that a combination of maturity and a pack of Channie's My First Pencil have helped us get really going in the handwriting I had intended to use in August. 😅 I expect to at least have finished it by the end of the summer and be ready to move into something like Abeka's writing with phonics or Catholic Heritage Curricula's handwriting books. -Reading is going well! We are continuing Progressive Phonics and BOB books along with some Lakeshore Learning materials. I'm going to finish Beginner Progressive Phonics soon and I'll probably dive on into AAR Level 1. -Math is also going well. We are on track to finish Singapore Math Standards edition Kindergarten this year. Wisdom Wonder Project is going well for us as a way to help me plan and present lessons. -Everything else: honestly, I have done way less science, social studies, etc. with this child than my older kids because I'm so busy with the older kids. She does sit in on morning time and get some various subjects there, and I get stacks of picture books from the library to read to her before bedtime, so I'm going to say she's good with that. I am adding an Ivy Kids subscription to help beef up this area a bit. Overall, a smoother path is forming forward for my youngest, very headstrong girl compared to the beginning of the school year. We're pretty happy here.
  2. Ting Tang - if it helps at all, here are my two most recent paragraph assignments from my 7th grade twins (age 12, they are young for 7th grade / July birthdays). You can see that my daughter (favorite things to bake) tends to be a bit more conversational and, well, wordy in her writing compared to my son (bees and flies). However, I'm struggling to get both of them to EDIT more effectively, so I don't think this is an uncommon thing for this age to struggle with. We have used Lantern English with some success in the past, but these paragraphs were part of assignments from chapters in The Paragraph by EPS. I've really liked these workbooks - I do them out loud (mostly) with my kids, but you could pretty easily assign them as an independent thing if you needed to. My Favorite Things to Bake.pdf Why Bee and Flies Are Not So Different.pdf
  3. So we started Beast Academy Science this week. We read through the introduction (which is in the same comic book style as the math books), and then completed the first lab (see PDF). I really thought it was an engaging way to introduce the scientific method, specifically making a prediction / coming up with a hypothesis. I did add some additional information on the scientific method so I could connect that more strongly with what we were doing. The activity was fun, and my DS(8) enjoyed it, especially trying it with different types of balls. The questions were a good way to guide the discussion and encouraged thinking more deeply about the problem. The first four chapters all seem to be well thought out and include some interesting activities. But I think the real "star" here are the questions, which really help to think a bit more about what you are doing in the activity. It looks like later chapters have less hands-on activities, so I may see DS's interest wane as we get there. I'll try and remember to follow up with more information when we get there. Now, all of this being said, we have been prior to this year doing a combination of Evan Moor's Daily Science workbook with Mystery Science videos (as they tie into the topic in our Evan moor workbook) and additional picture book resources, like Let's Read and Find Out. And THAT went really well, honestly - at this point, I wouldn't go so far as to say that Beast Academy science is much better than what we were already doing. In a lot of ways, the Evan moor workbook is much easier since you don't have to do any additional activities (unless you want to - there are usually some suggested in the teacher's book), but in at least this first unit for Beast Academy you would definitely want to do the activities and not skip them (it's a big part of what you are doing). So if that isn't what you want to do, I wouldn't recommend it. BAPage.pdf
  4. I set up a Google classroom for my middle school age twins when I taught them Scratch. It was good experience for them - they learned how to use a LMS, take a quiz with a Google form, upload and download files (file management). They learned word / Google Docs while completing Lantern English courses. I taught them basic keyboarding and mouse skills starting in 2nd grade, followed by typing with typetastic. They are learning Google Slides right now via some assignments in our current literature course. I'll be teaching them Digital Citizenship, Photoshop/imade editing, Video editing in Premiere, Python programming followed by OOP with C# and game and app programming in C# / Xamarin before they graduate high school.
  5. Just ordered for my 3rd grader! I'll try and remember to post when we have completed a unit.
  6. I immediately thought of the kumon coloring books when I saw your title, but then I read your post and realized that is not even close to what you want. 😅
  7. I might have to look at it again - I tried their preK handwriting this last year and she liked it too much and just took the books from me and did them all in like a week. (But without supervision - if I tried, she also didn't like it! Hah)
  8. Going into September update: School has started to settle into a routine, and it is going well! Reading: Progressive phonics, dash into learning readers, the pdx dyslexia toolkit level 1 games (this is a great resource for any kid, not just kids with dyslexia). My 5 year old is blending cvc words 😀 I'll probably move to AAR1 eventually but skip to where she is skill wise... I feel that their cvc sections are a bit tedious. Math: Singapore math standards edition kindergarten with wisdom wonder project. We hit about 4 lessons a week. Handwriting: a little each day with abeka. She likes this the least. 😅 Morning time: we do geography, history, and science here so she is getting a little. Zoo homeschool academy starts soon and this will be her first year attending. I'm happy with it! We will see if we can keep it up.
  9. Beautiful Feet Seasons Afield is really popular here! We actually just got our box in a few days ago for Seasons Afield (before I ever read this thread!) and I'm excited about trying it BUT as we are in Florida I'm a little unsure how well some of the seasons in the materials will translate for us here in the land of eternal sun. We started easing into school this week but I got hit with a ton of work from my part time jobs so my littles got left behind a bit. I will reset and try again next week. What we did do : started up gentle 5 minute reading lessons with progressive phonics for my kindergartener. She really likes it. I'm still on the fence about pulling out AAR. Still doing a little wisom wonder project directed singapore math as well.
  10. We were told the same thing (20 degrees cooler is what you can expect) at the time that ours was getting 82 upstairs at best (by the first company we asked), but once we got freon levels back up we were able to at least get 78 on that same unit. It wasn't that old though, really - 10 years about. I still hate that we had to replace it but I will say our new unit can get us to 74 no problem, so there is that. 😅
  11. I'm sorry - hopefully, in a few weeks, once you figure out a routine with your 9th grader going to school, you will feel ready to tackle thinking about school for your others. In the meantime, I'd consider giving some independent activities for them (reading x minutes a day, playing prodigy for math, etc), if anything, and decide to start school when you are mentally ready. I am praying for you.
  12. We are also in Florida, and had a similar issue with our upstairs unit. However, when we had ac maintenance done, we found that we had low freon levels and a small leak in the coil in the air handler upstairs. We spent years topping off freon each year until we finally replaced the unit. Might be worth checking your freon levels (if your unit is properly sized - that is another potential reason not to cool effectively).
  13. I find the Hatchet narrator a little monotone, and I never noticed how often Paulsen repeats a phrase when reading Hatchet but I definitely do when listening. Nonetheless, my kids have enjoyed listening. 😉
  14. My 12 year old son has read some hank the cowdog, assassin's apprentice by Robin Hobb, and some manga including a zelda one, and the explorer series by kazu kibuishi. My 12 year old daughter has read Pride and Prejudice (manga version), Emma (manga version), Coraline, and some Goosebumps (comic version) as well as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We have listened to Hatchet by Gary Paulsen.
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